Athletics

Athletics

Athletics is often seen as the main event of any multi-sport games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be no different. A total of 58 gold medals will be available in track and field for Team England as athletes and para-athletes come together to compete for Team and Country.

Athletes compete to run faster, jump better or throw farther than their competitors across a variety of iconic distances and disciplines.

Team England is one of the only times that athletes and para-athletes compete in the same team and there will be 11 para-athletics Gold medals up for grabs at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Team England is the most successful athletics nation in the history of the Commonwealth Games. The Gold Coast 2018 team will include household names such as 2012 Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford, Katarina Johnson Thompson and 2016 Paralympic Champion Kadeena Cox.

You might need to know...

Track events take place over distances between 100m and 10,000m with the first athlete to cross the line declared the winner

Jumping events see athletes aim to jump further (long jump, triple jump) or higher (high jump, pole vault) with the longest or highest distance winning gold. Long jump and triple jump are conducted over a 6 jump contest whilst high jump and pole vault athletes are eliminated after three consecutive failed attempts

Throws including javelin, hammer, discus and shot put challenge athletes to throw implements as far as possible with the best of six attempts for each competitor winning the contest

Decathlon for men and heptathlon for women are multi-event competitions scored on points which aim to determine the best all round athlete across a number of disciplines

Team England previous athletics medals

189

Gold

195

Silver

176

Bronze

560

Total

Team Leader

Martin Rush

Martin was the Team Leader for the British Athletics Junior team from
2002 to 2008 and the European Cross Country and Race Walk teams in 2014 and
2015. He was also the endurance coach for England Athletics at the 2010
and 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Martin is currently Head of Coaching and Athlete Development at England
Athletics having worked for UK Athletics since 2001 in Performance and Coach
Development. Prior to that he worked as a teacher and athletics
development officer.